UCL CMC Newsletter No · 2020. 3. 11. · metrical figures in both hands was rendered in a...

ISSN 2398-6484 (Online)UCL Chamber Music Club

Newsletter No.13 February 2020

In thisissue:

Intimacy in trios,songs, films and jazz:a view on theexperiments of thesixty-seventh seasonpage 2

UCOpera presentsHaydn’s last operapage 8

Meet the committee– Gillian Hoggpage 8

Gustav Holst,Sanskrit and UCLpage 11

Welcome to our newsletter

Welcome to the thirteenth issue of the Chamber Mu-sic Club Newsletter. We hope you will enjoy readingit.

There are three major items. The very thoroughsurvey of our 2018-19 concert season gives an ideaof the range and variety of our programmes, whichcover both standard and more ‘out of the way’ reper-toire. Our final concert of the season included mu-sic by Gustav Holst, and this composer’s brief, per-haps little-known, association with UCL is investi-gated in an article which illustrates how difficult itcan sometimes be to get the facts straight! The lat-est in the ‘Meet the Committee’ series of interviewsfeatures Gillian Hogg, a recent recruit to the com-mittee but a long-standing member of the Club whohas taken part in our concerts as a choral singer andrecorder player (and more than once provided in-valuable advice on Russian pronunciation). A noteabout the forthcoming, and typically enterprising,UCOpera production completes the issue.

The Newsletter has now moved to yearlyrather than twice-yearly production, which giveseveryone more time to write articles! It’s not tooearly, however, to be thinking about offering acontribution for our fourteenth issue, especiallyif you have not written for the Newsletter be-fore. Concert and book reviews, letters to theeditors and other short items, as well as full-lengtharticles (c.3000 words) are all welcome. It’s agood idea to let us know what you have in mindbefore you actually start writing. Feel free tocontact any of the editors with your suggestions;we are: Dace Ruklisa ([email protected]),Jill House ([email protected]) and myself([email protected]).

My thanks, as ever, to Dace and Jill for their workin preparing this issue.

Roger Beeson, Chair, UCL CMC

Intimacy in trios, songs, films and jazz:a view on the experiments of the sixty-seventh season

The annual banquet of chamber music at UCL has not lacked in variety of tastes,dishes and even flowers to adorn it. The prevailing atmosphere of the fifteenconcerts of the sixty-seventh season has been that of intimacy. The programmeshave shown how different its sources can be, from piano trios to solo songs, fromtwentieth-century explorations of musical boundaries to twenty-first-century pre-mieres, with quite a few Baroque eccentricities thrown in the middle. A strongcore of classical chamber music repertoire has been juxtaposed with excursionsinto film and jazz, while almost every concert has included something less knownand rarely played. Let us dwell on this feast for a while.

This season’s chamber music repertoire involved a lot of introspection andsometimes also quirkiness and unpredictability. The major focus was on smallensembles and solo songs accompanied by a single instrument. Thus, four songson Housman poems for voice and violin by Ralph Vaughan Williams revealed lesstypical facets of the composer’s writing style. The first song, ‘We’ll to the woodsno more’, seemed wistful, with the violin part freely wandering and imitating thevoice. Both musicians conjured an emotionally tense culmination towards theend. The singer exhibited excellent control of her voice, especially considering thebroad vocal range of this short song and leaps across large intervals. ‘Along thefield’ introduced the theme of death (prominent in this cycle) and relayed it in aslightly ironical vein, conveying the joys of life in the phrase ‘it was a lover and hislass’ and then quickly jumping to the inevitable outcome. Then ‘The half-moonwesters low’ traversed several tonalities and sounded sparse and bleak regardlessof the rich violin texture involving chords. At a November concert it was possibleto appreciate the scope of Fauré compositions for solo piano, piano duet and voiceand piano. ‘Automne’, Op.18 No.3, was the first in a sequence of Fauré songs.Initially the voice sounded as if at a distance. The singing gradually gained in-tensity and captured listeners’ attention with nuanced phrasing. The lugubriousatmosphere of the songs was momentarily dissipated by the brighter sections of‘Spleen’, Op.51 No.3, and ‘Prison’, Op.83 No.1. The piano parts of these pieceswere notable – diverse textures and harmonies substantially contributed to the in-terpretations of the poems. Changes in rhythms were clearly emphasised by thepiano, especially within the jumpy imitations of ‘Automne’.

This season has witnessed several performances of piano trios in their entirety.In the autumn term Beethoven’s Trio in B flat major, Op.11, was played on clar-inet, cello and piano. In the first movement the timbres of clarinet and cello werewell aligned. The cellist played almost without vibrato and added light and evasivefigurations to the texture. The piano came to the forefront with elegantly renderedfast passages. The second movement began with a cello melody that recalled an

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ancient song – it was played without additional embellishments. Something naivewas preserved throughout this movement – this impression was not substantiallyaltered by the later use of waltz style. The third movement variations were ren-dered with plenty of contrasts in dynamics; the clarinet sound was initially matte,but later acquired bright and rich tone. At a January concert Schubert’s Piano TrioNo.1 in B flat major was performed. In the first movement the piano part provideda solid rhythmical canvas over which various themes were evolving. Here, themood unexpectedly veered frommelancholy to merriment. The theme of the thirdmovement differed from anything that had come before – abrupt interruptions bythe violin were crisp and precise and then the scherzo gave way to a ponderouswaltz with a seemingly infinite melody.

But even the programmes involving better-known chamber music repertoirecontained a lot of discoveries. Clara Schumann’s Romance from Quatre pièces car-actéristiques was played in November – the subtle overlay of rather discrepantmetrical figures in both hands was rendered in a transparent way. The piecesounded lyrical and contemplative and the interpretation captured something ofotherworldly tranquillity. Another piece by Clara Schumann, Three Romances forviolin and piano, Op.22, could be heard at an all-Schumann recital alongside RobertSchumann’sDichterliebe – it was awelcomeCMC revival of a serious chambermu-sic composer. On this occasion the full Dichterliebe cycle was performed – it wasinterpreted as an ongoing journey with plenty of inner transformations along theway. The narrative was structured by grouping of songs, therefore quite a fewpieces were performed without pauses between them. A concert by performersfrom UCL Music Society was full of proficient playing, especially of string instru-ments. Cellos seemed to almost dominate the programme which began with threemovements from J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No.1. Particularly memorable was an ar-rangement for cello, double bass and piano of Dmitry Shostakovich’s Prelude fromthe Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano: continuous melodies from the stringswere freely floating around and above the piano accompaniment carrying withthem full-blown blues.

Wind instruments occasionally assumed central roles in chamber ensembles.The performance of Edwin York Bowen’s PhantasyQuintet Op.93 for bass clarinetand string quartet was a rather unusual experience. The first section was playedwith a sense of restlessness and tautness. The bass clarinet sounded mellow, witha deep tone; its low register was frequently used in the piece. A macabre moodwas created in the middle of the piece, which later turned to a sense of uneasedespite several lyrical melodies played by the bass clarinet. The latter were crucialto achieving a calm resolution in the coda. The dense and orchestral textures ofthe composition were skilfully navigated by the musicians. The first movement ofthe Flute Sonata by Mel Bonis surprised with distinct harmonic language, wherechord changes rapidly altered the atmosphere, especially from the darker passages

UCL Chamber Music Club, Newsletter No.13 3

towards something lighter. The beginning of the piece was marked by short burstsof motifs in the flute and later in the piano, which only gradually were assembledinto longer melodies. Chromatic arabesques were scattered throughout the com-position – they were surprisingly varied and left an impression of uncertainty andwandering. The tone and phrasing of the flute was smooth and even regardlessof the swift reshuffling of the musical material. The piano playing was the mostprominent in the last movement which beganwith stormy and passionately playedcascades.

A contrast to the sonorities of smaller ensembleswas a performance ofHaydn’sMissa brevis in F at the Christmas concert. The sections with chorus had a verywarm sound which was carefully balanced across voice groups. Within the middlemovements the chorus provided energetic accelerations of tempo. The short bassintonations before Gloria and Credo introduced an unanticipated polarity withrespect to the chorus and were like sobering proclamations. Soprano and altosoloists kept up and carried further the motifs introduced by the chorus, espe-cially in the Benedictus, but rendered them in a far more tranquil manner than thechorus. The final section, Agnus Dei, conveyed some sadness that was turned intoa reconciliatory finale.

This year’s themed concerts dwelled on the intersections of music with otherarts. A concert of film music showcased audio fragments of films most associatedwith the featured composers. Thus, Three Improvisations for solo piano by Elisa-beth Lutyens were preceded by a fragment of the horror film The Skull and NinoRota’s Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano was introduced by a scene from The God-father. At this concert Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was played in the composer’sversion for solo piano. It revealed Gershwin’s skilful use of a mixed spectrum ofcompositional techniques and his appreciation of avant-garde compositions. Inthe introduction sound effects were given more prominence than individual mo-tifs – this approach resembled the orchestral version. Sections of polytonality andsequences of cluster chords were clearly relayed. The pianist chose a brisk tempo,which seemed to depict a rush in a city in the second half. The hymnic culmina-tion was affirmative, but shunned sentimentality. In the first movement of NinoRota’s trio the brief cello notes evoked the noise of sawing. Thesewere followed bycrystalline and pared-down piano motifs that were transparently rendered. In theAndante a pensive theme played by the clarinet immediately attracted attention.After an exchange of responses between cello and clarinet a rather harsh cellomelody in low register altered the direction of the movement. Then quiet and ob-scure piano figurations slowly emerged and gradually climbed towards elevatedregisters creating a fascinating effect.

The concert devoted to jazz inspirations exhibited some parallels to the filmmusic programme. On this occasion Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’ was sung – thevoice sounded lucid and the high notes of the soprano line were reached with ease


and with smooth phrasing. Sonatine transatlantique by Alexandre Tansman beganwith angular and dissonant musical material that soon morphed into a more de-fined tonality and some recognisable jazz harmonies. Throughout the first move-ment blocks characterised by different degrees of dissonance were deftly juxta-posed. Syncopated rhythms were in abundance even by jazz standards – thesewere confidently rendered by the pianist. Stylised melodies of spirituals and bluesin the second movement were particularly engaging; they were varied by capri-cious decorations and interjections of additional piano voices. At the close ofthe concert Dances for trombone quartet by Stanley Glasser, a London composerwith Goldsmiths College associations, were performed. The initially clear dancerhythms disintegrated fairly quickly and were scattered among other things. Thispiece of two minutes contained a surprising number of musical ideas and its tex-ture was constantly shifting.

The end-of-season concert was dedicated to the four elements: earth, air, wa-ter and fire. The programme began and ended with movements from Jean-FéryRebel’s Les éléments. The first of them, ‘Le chaos’, depicted a fairly rationally ar-ranged eighteenth-century tumult and was introduced by a slightly menacing dis-sonant chord. The latter progressively grew (or diminished) into sparser chordsand distinct melodies. Then the musical motifs associated with the four elementswere presented almost simultaneously by soloists and smaller ensembles – fluteplayers were particularly notable with their shrill and bright summons. Densechords of strings consistently counteracted other themes. The elements were ex-posed separately in ‘Ramage’ (l’air), Loure (la terre – l’eau) and Chaconne (le feu).As before, the string group exhibited a lot of coherence and unity, especially whenplaying fast scales upwards and downwards. It was a pleasure to hear the etherealduet of two flutes in the ‘Ramage’, which was aptly scored in high registers. In ad-dition, the CMC choir presented ‘Hymn to the Waters’ and ‘To Agni, God of Fire’from Gustav Holst’s Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda. The choir displayed sensi-tive phrasing, confidently inhabited the colourful modal harmonies and conjureda slightly mysterious atmosphere. The accompaniment of ‘Hymn to the Waters’was played on the piano instead of a harp. Here, the pianist produced a soundthat hinted at the timbres of a harp, especially within the fast figurations in higherregisters that were played without any sense of heaviness.

Quite a few shorter and far from well-known pieces from the Baroque and Re-naissance periods have been scattered across CMC programmes this year. Thus,Michel Corrette’s Sonata in D minor for cello and basso continuo, Op.20 No.2, wasplayed on two cellos. The most delightful was the middle movement with twodifferent arias – the musicians revealed subtle nuances of emotions and outlinedboth sudden and gradual transitions between moods; the phrases were carefullyshaded and the playing resembled a slowed-down dance movement. AfterwardsJ.S. Bach’s Sonata No.1 in G major for viola da gamba and cembalo was played


on cello and piano. It began in moderate and sustained tempo, which allowedfull enjoyment of evenly and lightly played trills and decorations by the piano.Throughout this performance the left-hand part of the piano was executed in asensitive way that did not overshadow other layers, but rather provided a punc-tuated grounding for different melodies. The very long notes of the cello soundedsurprisingly interesting and even came to the foreground due to timbral nuanceswith which they were imbued. The second movement introduced a sprightly in-terplay between both instruments with frequent imitations of each other’s themes.After this experience the Andante movement created a nearly hypnotic effect, es-pecially by the slowly evolving, despondent and chillingly regular piano part; thecello assumed a leading role when emphasising transitions from minor to majorand then back again. At a concert called ‘Sing & Play’ vivid impressions were cre-ated by compositions for solo instruments. Telemann’s Fantasia No.8 in E minorfor solo flute did not dwell within a single tonality and possessed notable chromaticpassages. The flautist carefully separated individual notes and was successful atdelineating hidden polyphony within the rather sparse texture that was never-theless replete with brief fragments of melodies. In the last section the performerprecisely rendered rhythms within the frequent juxtapositions of rapid and slowernotes. Dall’Abaco’s Capriccio No.1 in C minor for solo cello was largely based onmelodic sequences gradually descending within the given tonality. Occasionally amotif was played in a delicate manner as if barely touching the strings. The cellistexperimented with slight accelerations and various timbres, occasionally metal-lic, within the repetitive texture. It seems that the solo instrument pieces by thiscomposer are more notable for their atmosphere than development in time. At theChristmas concert ‘O magnum mysterium’ by Tomás Luis de Victoria was sung.The CMC choir brought out the transparency inherent in the structure and theharmonies of this piece. Interesting rhythmic accents on weak beats within barscould be heard – individual words and polyphonic lines were emphasised thus.Voice groups tended to blend smoothly when singing similar musical material.

A spirit of experimentation could be felt inmany programmeswhere twentieth-and twenty-first century music, including premieres, was presented. For example,at the Christmas concert a composition by Roger Beeson for the unusual combi-nation of a choir, cello, flute and clarinet, which was based on the Thomas Hardypoem ‘The Oxen’, was premiered. The piece began with cello pizzicatos countingtwelve hours till midnight when the action takes place. After the cello changed toarco the mood became more menacing and uncertain. This section was followedby a slightly chilly duo of the flute and clarinet until the choir brought warmercolours into the music. The pizzicato counting returned in the coda, this time cre-ating a comfortable and familiar feeling. Another premiere took place at the jointconcert with the Oxford and Cambridge Musical Club. Helford River at Night forviola and piano by Anthony Green vividly evoked sounds caught around a riverin nighttime, including movements of waves and perhaps even some fishing. Each


section had a distinct texture and the piano accompaniment was always kept un-cluttered, which allowed audience to appreciate diverse harmonic tints and theatonal melodic lines. In the end a subdued theme was played by the viola beforedescending into silence. This composition was preceded by 2 Woofs for solo pianoby Henry Cowell – these miniatures were played with great expressiveness andalso precision with respect to syncopations and pauses. This concert also includedthree Tango Etudes for solo violin by Astor Piazzolla. In the Etude No.3 the vi-olinist underlined the characteristic tango rhythm. It was interesting to listen tothe melodies interspersed between the occurrences of the main theme – the per-former had found unexpected ways of contrasting different musical materials byarticulation and dynamics. The Etude No.6 did not become monotonous despiteits repetitive figures and short motifs – the violinist maintained a sense of move-ment and emphasised the emergence of novel motifs and the lyrical passages. Theperformance became more and more virtuosic with each piece and the tempo wasconsistently increased. These etudes revealed the composer’s versatility in usingvarious compositional techniques and also paid tribute to J.S. Bach through theircomplex hidden polyphonies.

A concert in memory of John Lindon occupied a special place last season.John was an outstanding figure in the history of the CMC as a performer andcommittee member, being active within the Club since the late sixties in variouscapacities. His ventures in Italian culture and chamber music were presented bytwelve performers who had playedwith him onmany occasions in various settingsin London. The Monteverdi madrigal ‘Ohimè, dov’è il mio ben’ was sung by aduet of mezzo-sopranos – the soloists relayed the poem without haste, savouringornamentations and occasionally speeding up some phrases to conjure impatiencein love. The impression was both leisurely and somewhat teasing and capricious.After this ‘Chiome d’oro’ sounded very lively and as if embodying the joys oflove. Here, the rhythmic synchronisation of both voices on various (often short)syllables of text was important and was successfully achieved. The singing wasdelicately accompanied by two Baroque flutes, a Baroque cello and a harpsichord.John was the editor of the texts for a full set of Monteverdi compositions publishedin Rome. The programme was concluded by Johannes Brahms’s Sonata No.2 in Amajor for violin and piano. The first movement began moderately slowly, but soonthe violin engaged in energetic outbursts. After that the performance resembled afreely floating narrative filled with piano figurations and lengthy violin melodies.Perhaps the light lyricism of the second movement was the most appealing aspectof this piece. These sections led to something like a merry scherzo in the Vivace,which was later repeated by loud violin pizzicatos.

The new, sixty-eighth season will offer sixteen concerts, some of which havealready been heard. In February a concert will be dedicated to the Chamber MusicClub’s own composers and contemporary music. The tradition of fostering ensem-


ble playing will be continued in May with an ensembles’ programme. A themedconcert about chivalry will include compositions related to Don Quixote amongothers. There is plenty of space for making musical discoveries and many signs ofinventiveness and diversity in the forthcoming programmes.

Dace Ruklisa

UCOpera presents Haydn’s last opera

Founded in 1951, UCOpera is a student-led opera company based at UCL. It isknown for staging a different opera every spring and for frequently bringing toattention less familiar works. This year Haydn’s last opera, L’anima del filosofo orOrfeo ed Euridice, will be presented. It was composed in London, but was neverfully performed during the composer’s lifetime. The piece retells the myth of Or-pheus and Eurydice, a story of love, death and the power of music. This year’sproduction will involve professional soloists and students and staff of UCL whotake smaller roles and participate in the chorus and orchestra. The opera will beconducted by Charles Peebles, who is already known to UCL audiences from pre-vious UCOpera productions. It is directed by Jack Furness and Crystal (Qiuyan)Da is preparing its design. Performances will take place in Bloomsbury Theatreon the evenings of 23rd, 25th, 27th and 28th March. Tickets can be bought onlineor in the theatre box office.

Meet the committee – Gillian Hogg

Roger Beeson: Gillian, when did you first become aware of the Chamber Music Club,and what prompted you to join?

Gillian Hogg: I joined UCL via SSEES (School of Slavonic and East EuropeanStudies) shortly after it merged so it felt a bit semi-detached and I didn’t fullyexplore UCL life for a while. But I think I had vaguely heard of it before thetime I was on a secondment and somehow found out that the 2009 Christmasconcert would include part of Handel’s Messiah. They were inviting singers tojoin, and it seemed I could fit in the proposed rehearsals, and it seemed like agood opportunity as I hadn’t been able to join a choir for many years. Singing inthe Christmas concerts has been the major aspect of my participation and in someyears the ‘Christmas choir’ also did a summer concert together, or there were otheropportunities to sing in an ensemble. I have also played the recorder in ensemblesin some concerts.

RB: Could you tell us something about your musical background?

GH: It’s hard to knowwhere to begin. I’m not sure if it’s the particular schools,or my age, or a combination of the two, but singing was part of school life from


an early age. My grandmother played the piano, though I don’t remember tryingit out that much, before a friend of my mother passed on a second-hand piano tous when I was around seven. I managed to pick out a theme song and Christmascarol and it encouraged mum to get me lessons. My dad, meanwhile, had an oldmilitary clarinet stashed in a wardrobe which I eventually got a few notes out of.At some point I started with the treble recorder which was somewhat easier, andwith my music training I sort of taught myself. I also got a more modern clarinetand based on the recorder experience more or less taught myself for a few years.Also in primary school, themusic teacher was an amazing enthusiast, and, becausekids are often made to learn their music by heart, I still remember The Goliath Jazzwhich we actually recorded onto vinyl.

I enjoyed playing but had virtually no discipline in my practice, scraped myway through the grades and even Music A-level, but I was always a nervous soloperformer (lucky for the audience, as I’m suremy lack of practice meant the nerveswere entirely justified!). And the secondary school was quite small with one or-chestra and no vacancy for mediocre clarinettists, unlike the primary school windband. So I tended to stick to choirs as well as piano.

RB: You’ve been involved in quite a number of our concerts over the years. Arethere any particular CMC events that you have especially enjoyed taking part in?

GH:The Christmas concerts have covered a lot of ground and offer some chal-lenges.

RB: And any concerts you’ve attended as an audience member that stand out?

GH: The great thing about Chamber Music Club concerts in general is oftenthat the items are short and you get to see a variety, so it seems invidious to men-tion them; but I did enjoy hearing my former SSEES colleague BarbaraWylie play-ing Bartók, in what may not strictly have been a CMC concert, but I believe RupertBawden also took part.

The other thing is the ones I did not hear or participate in and regret – suchas Helene’s celebration of Kodály and his legacy in music teaching.

RB: You’ve mentioned SSEES. For our ‘Russian modernism’ concert three yearsago you helped with the pronunciation and translation of Russian texts. How did youcome to know the language?

GH: My secondary school offered Russian as a modern language, and quitea number of us took it to O-level. Rather fewer of us went on to the subject forA-level, but I was one of them. I was fascinated by the classic literature, and wenton to read Russian at university.

RB: You were elected to the committee in June 2019. Any comments so far aboutthe operation of the committee? (Be honest!)

GH: It was a revelation! Despite being a member for so long, and participating


in the concerts, I hadn’t fully understood exactly how it worked in terms of pullingthe concerts together. Some of my fears were realised – an increase in email traf-fic as well as regular meetings. Typical of modern life, getting the info we needfor ourselves and the members, with developments like GDPR and a big financialtransaction like the purchase of the new piano – to run the necessary items of aclub properly and stay efficient of people’s time – I’m sure it doesn’t get easier!

RB: How would you like to see the Club developing over the next few years? Arethere important priorities that we should attend to?

GH: I’m constantly amazed by the quality of the performances and slightlyintimidated at times when I hear or learn about the musical life of the fellowmem-bers. To paraphrase Groucho Marx ‘I don’t want to join a club that would haveme as a member’.

I think the current life of universities, and living in London with long com-mutes, can take its toll on the capacity of members or potential members to com-mit to things outside their work and family life. Maybe even because there is sucha rich musical life around us, people don’t need the UCL bit to link them. I won-der whether people fully understand what chamber music is, or whether they justdon’t see that the club could be for them. Because chamber music generally needsfewer people to get together, in theory it could be easier logistically. But on theother hand, we need to help potential playing partners find each other. It’s a bitlike sport – my friend may play badminton or go running – but if they are far bet-ter or far worse than me they are maybe not the easiest or best person to do sportwith on every occasion – but if you join ‘parkrun’ you’ll find someone at yourlevel to jog around with on the day and may find that by doing it you improve.For some of us that improvement may be so gradual as to be imperceptible, com-pared to others! In some cases the active involvement as well as the more passivecompany of those who are better will help us, such as those like yourself who takeon direction of a group of singers. But it’s unlike ‘parkrun’ in that people gener-ally stay in the same place when they are making music so finding a location forlots of little groups can be a bit of a headache!

It may be good to link more to parts of the university where there could beprofessional connections – the languages and culture departments have been rep-resented, but maybe more could be done to link the club into UCL cultural life andget it ‘on the radar’. It’s always a tension to keep the high standards of music-making and remain welcoming and offering opportunities to as diverse a groupas we can. Music is constantly evolving and, however experienced or educatedin it we are, I’m sure all the membership are constantly (re?)discovering its manydifferent aspects, including how it benefits health, development and community,as well as the satisfaction of performance.


Gustav Holst, Sanskrit and UCL

If you go towww.ucl.ac.uk/about/who/history, click on ‘Famous alumni’ and scrolldown to ‘1900s’, you will find ‘Gustav Holst (UCL Languages 1909)’. In 1909 Holst(1874-1934) was a busy man, establishing himself as a composer and directing mu-sic both at St Paul’s Girls’ School, Hammersmith and at Morley College. He wasalso married, with a two-year-old daughter. So what was he doing as, apparently,a language student at UCL?

The short answer is that he was studying Sanskrit, the ancient Indian languageof Hindu literature. A little background will help. It is well known that Holst had awide and eclectic range of interests which found their way into his music. As wellas the enthusiasm for English folk-song which he shared with his lifelong friendRalph VaughanWilliams, there is astrology (The Planets, 1916) and Gnosticism (TheHymn of Jesus, 1917). Not surprisingly, his interests extended to Indian culture ata time when the sub-continent was the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the British Empire.Whatever their views about, or experience of, the British Raj, many writers (mostobviously Rudyard Kipling), artists (William Morris), and musicians were drawnto India as a source of inspiration. A thorough study of the Indian ‘connection’in British musical life, from Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee to the end of theRaj, through an examination of six contrasting musicians, including Holst, can befound in Nalini Ghuman’s book Resonances of the Raj: India in the English musicalimagination, 1897-1947 (see Bibliography).

Holst’s own ‘Indian’ period, as far as his compositions are concerned, com-prised approximately the first decade of the twentieth century. The main ‘Indian’works of this time are the opera Sita (completed 1906), Vedic Hymns for solo voiceand piano (1907-08), Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda (1908-12) – two of whichwere performed in the CMC concert on 30 May last year – the chamber operaSāvitri (1908) – a highly original masterpiece – and the choral work The CloudMessenger (1909-10).

It was not only classical Indian literature and ideas which interestedHolst. Theextent to which he absorbed influences from actual Indianmusic into his own style– for example in his use of ostinati, pedal notes and unusual scales or modes – hasbeen amatter of debate, but we can note that he certainly had opportunities to hearIndian music. Ghuman mentions various lectures and performances which tookplace in London in the 1890s and early 1900s, as well as early recordings, and pointsout that Holst was working in Scotland as a trombonist in the Scottish Orchestraat the time of the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901, where he could haveheard Indian musicians perform (Resonances of the Raj, pp.107-8). Furthermore, atsome unspecified time, Holst sought technical advice on Indian music from MaudMacCarthy, who was a pioneer in the first-hand study of Indian music and itsdissemination in the UK. In 1935 she wrote: ‘I remember that fine composer, the


http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about/who/history

late Gustav Holst, coming to me years ago for “Indian scales”.’Never one to do things by halves, and dissatisfied with the Victorian transla-

tions of the ancient texts, Holst at some point set out to learn enough Sanskrit toenable him to make translations of his own, suitable for setting to music. As wehave seen, it was in 1909 that he enrolled at UCL in order to attend Sanskrit classes.(If you’re wondering why he didn’t go to SOAS the answer is that SOAS did notexist: it was founded in 1916. To study the languages of India in London prior tothat, UCL was clearly the place. It had an ‘Indian School’, whose primary purposewas to provide background knowledge and training for potential recruits to theIndian Civil Service.) Holst enrolled in January 1909 for terms 2 and 3 to attendclasses for two hours per week as a ‘non-matriculated’ student, and re-enrolled inOctober 1909.

Now this is where matters become a little obscure. Holst’s 1909 attendanceis well attested by internal UCL sources – his entry and re-entry forms, recordcard and entries in the Professors’ Fees Book – but otherwise only Wikipedia (asfar as I’ve been able to ascertain) identifies 1909 as the year of his enrolment. Inthe Chronology prefacing the Thematic Catalogue of her father’s music ImogenHolst states that in 1898 (which would be immediately after his graduation fromthe Royal College of Music) he ‘studied Sanskrit at the University College, London’(p.xiv); in the 1980 New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians she is less spe-cific about the date, just writing in the section about his student days that he ‘hadlessons at University College, London’; in the 2001 New Grove Colin Matthewsmore or less follows Imogen Holst: ‘At about this time [the later 1890s] he alsobecame interested in Hindu literature and philosophy, and took lessons at Uni-versity College, London.’ But this is all very much open to question. There is noactual evidence of his attending UCL around 1898/99, and the ‘First Entry Form’that Holst filled in on registering in 1909 makes no mention of previous study atUCL – he gives his previous place of education as the Royal College of Music.

The solution, I think, is that Holst did study Sanskrit language and literatureintermittently for something over a decade from 1898, and this includes a formalperiod of study at UCL in 1909-10; no doubt it would be easy enough to mix upthese two pieces of information. He may, as Paul Holmes states, have enquiredabout classes at UCL around 1898, but there is no reason to suppose that he joinedany classes at that time.

At this point we should mention two figures: Dr Mabel Bode (1864-1922) andRomesh Chandra – or Chunder – Dutt (1848-1909). Mabel Bode was a leadingscholar of Pāli, the language of Indian Buddhist scriptures, but also had expertisein Sanskrit. She had studied at various times in the 1890s at UCL and in Berne andParis. She was appointed to the Indian School at UCL in 1909 as an Assistant toteach Pāli and Buddhist Literature as well as Sanskrit; in 1911 she became Lecturerin Pāli and Buddhist Literature. Romesh Dutt had been in the Indian Civil Service;


All photos courtesy of UCL Spe-cial Collections.


he was an economic historian, and a translator of the Rāmāyana and the Mahāb-hārata. He taught at UCL between 1898 and 1904, holding the post of Lecturer inAncient Indian History.

It appears that Holst’s Sanskrit studies did indeed begin in about 1898/99 withDr Bode. Since she was abroad at various times and he was working as an orches-tral trombonist, the extent and regularity of his studies must have been limited. Hewas also acquainted with Dutt, corresponding with him in 1901 about the librettoof a projected opera (which became Sita). This provides at least an indirect linkwith UCL, and Holst may indeed have heard Dutt lecture there. His interest inSanskrit may have been renewed around 1907/08 in connection with the compo-sition of Sāvitri and the solo and choral Rig Veda settings. According to RaymondHead he purchased Edward D. Perry’s A Sanskrit Primer in July 1908, and seems tohave worked his way through the first nineteen lessons. We can perhaps speculatethat he then sought to refresh and further his Sanskrit studies formally. Did Ma-bel Bode (who had become, and remained for the rest of her life, a family friend)encourage him to enrol at UCL, or did he perhaps decide that this was the obviousthing to do? As we have seen, he joined the College in January 1909. If we assumethat Mabel Bode’s employment at UCL began in the autumn term of 1909, thenHolst would initially have been taught by Professor L.D. Barnett. Thereafter hestudied with Dr Bode: the Professors’ Fees Book for 1909-10 records Holst’s nameand fees, with payment made to her by the College.

As an aside, we may note that Holst registered at UCL as Gustav Theodorevon Holst. His mother was English, but his father was of predominantly Ger-man ancestry (with some Swedish and Latvian). For more than half his career hewas known as Gustav von Holst, his works were published under that name, re-views and the like referred to ‘Mr von Holst’, he signed letters GVH, and VaughanWilliams wrote to him affectionately as ‘Dear Von’. It was not until September1918 that he formally dropped the ‘von’: he was part of an educational missionsent by the YMCA to British troops in the eastern Mediterranean, and he felt (orwas advised) that a German-sounding name would not go down too well with thesoldiers. (In fact the adjustment of his name came, comparatively speaking, ratherlate. At the outset of the First World War Russia’s capital St Petersburg becamePetrograd; and in July 1917 the British royal family changed its name from Saxe-Coburg Gotha to the rather more patriotic Windsor, while its Battenberg cousinsbecameMountbatten. Petrograd changed to Leningrad in 1924, but in recent yearshas reverted to being St Petersburg. It is difficult to imagine, however, that theHouse of Windsor and the Mountbattens will ever readopt their German names;and it seems unlikely that any campaign to restore his ‘von’ to Gustav Holst wouldget very far!)

There is one further puzzle. While Imogen Holst has her father studying atUCL in 1898, as quoted above, in her biography of him she says that in 1899 he


was ‘a student in the School of Oriental Languages at the London Institution’,and furthermore: ‘His Professor was Dr. Mabel Bode’ (p.22). A number of otherwriters seem to take their lead from Imogen. Michael Short’s biography (p.37)states that ‘he enrolled at the London School of Oriental Languages to take a coursein Sanskrit.’ Ghuman, in Resonances of the Raj, writes that in 1899 Holst ‘began tolearn the Devanāgarī script and to read Sanskrit literature at the School of OrientalLanguages in London with Dr Mabel Bode’ (p.105). Tim Rayborn, citing Imogenand Short, refers to Dr Bode ‘of the School of Oriental Languages at the LondonInstitution’ (p.95); while Jon C. Mitchell, in his Comprehensive Biography, writesthat in 1899 Holst ‘enrolled at the London School of Oriental Languages’ (p.22).If Imogen’s account is unreliable, then so of course are all the others. The issueagain is a lack of evidence. It is difficult to find any trace of ‘the School of OrientalLanguages’ or ‘the London School of Oriental Languages’. Such a body may wellhave existed, though it could hardly have competed with UCL in terms of theprestige and expertise of its tutors; but so far I have found no references to it apartfrom those above. Meanwhile, an internet search for information about Dr Bode– admittedly not exhaustive – has yielded no mention of her teaching (let alonebeing a Professor) at this school, although other details of her academic activitiescan easily be found. (Strangely, an anonymous internet source mentions Holstas her private pupil in 1912, which does not seem very likely.) What about theLondon Institution? This certainly did exist, from 1805 to 1933. It was founded ‘topromote the diffusion of Science, Literature and the Arts’, but its main activitiesin the nineteenth century were in the field of scientific education. In 1912 theInstitution, by that time in decline, moved out of its Finsbury Circus building and atthe recommendation of the Royal Commission on University Education in Londonthe premises were taken over by London University to house its new School ofOriental Studies (which became SOAS). Could this tenuous connection betweenthe Institution and Oriental studies be the source of some confusion on the part ofHolst’s biographers? Or did the Institution in fact include Oriental studies in itsactivities (and appropriate texts in its very well-equipped library)? The evidencemay exist somewhere…

A final, speculative thought. Gustav (von) Holst attended Sanskrit classes atUCL in 1909-10. At that time UCL’s Professor of Latin was A.E. Housman. He wasprobably the leading Latinist of his day, but of course he was famous throughoutthe UK as a poet, author of the enormously popular A Shropshire Lad. His po-ems were set to music by numerous composers in the twentieth century (but notby Holst) – early examples are the song-cycles by Arthur Somervell (1904) andVaughan Williams (1906-09). I wonder whether the distinguished Professor (andgreat poet) and the modest but determined part-time student (and great composer)may perhaps for a moment have passed by one another, unrecognised, somewhere


on our UCL campus?

Roger Beesonwith thanks to Robert Winckworth of UCL Special Collections, Archives & Records

BibliogRaphy

Ghuman, Nalini Resonances of the Raj: India in the English musical imagination,1897-1947 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, c.2014)

Head, Raymond Gustav Holst and India (Chipping Norton: Sky Dance Press, 2018)A reprint of three articles originally published in Tempo, 1986, 1987, 1988.

Holmes, Paul Holst: his life and times (London: Omnibus, c.1997)

Holst, Imogen Gustav Holst: a biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969)A Thematic Catalogue of Gustav Holst’s Music (London: Faber Music,

1974)Article on Holst in New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, first

edition (London: Macmillan, 1980)

Matthews, Colin Article on Holst in New Grove Dictionary of Music and Mu-sicians, second edition (London: Macmillan, 2001)

Mitchell, Jon C. A Comprehensive Biography of Composer Gustav Holst with Corre-spondence and Diary Excerpts: including his American years (Lewiston NY & Lam-peter: Edwin Mellen Press, 2001)

Rayborn, Tim A New English Music: composers and folk traditions in England’smusical renaissance from the late 19th to the mid-20th century (Jefferson, NorthCarolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2016)

Short, Michael Gustav Holst: the man and his music (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1990)

Online souRces

UCL Calendars athttp://digital-collections.ucl.ac.uk/R/?func=collections-result&collection_id=4960

Wikipedia articles on Gustav Holst, Mabel Bode, Romesh Chunder Dutt, LondonInstitution

Anonymous: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/h̃oz/milton/mabel.html


http://digital-collections.ucl.ac.uk/R/?func=collections-result&collection_id=4960

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hoz/milton/mabel.html

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